Abstract #0729

Lu H, Reaume J, Helpern J, Jensen J, Grossman R, Ge Y

Diffusional kurtosis (DK) is defined as reflecting the non-Gaussian water diffusion properties in the biologic tissues. DK imaging is an extension of conventional diffusion imaging and provides a specific measure for the deviation of water diffusion from the Gaussian behavior in tissues with heterogeneous solution, thus, is a sensitive method for the degree of tissue structural complexity. In this study, we have compared the DK imaging and diffusion tensor (DT) imaging in different brain regions including thalamus in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and in age-matched normal controls to investigate the thalamic involvement in MTBI.